Grassley: Trump Jr. interview transcript release likely to take weeks

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said Thursday that the panel is likely several weeks from releasing transcripts of its interviews with Donald Trump Jr. and other key witnesses in its probe of Russian election meddling in 2016.

The Iowa Republican said last month that he would release the transcripts of private staff-level interviews conducted with the president's eldest son and five other witnesses who attended the June 2016 meeting that senior Trump campaign aides held with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer. Grassley shed more light on his approach in a response to a Democratic request that he schedule public hearings with Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and other individuals relevant to the committee's ongoing Russia inquiry.

Story Continued Below

Grassley told Democrats on his committee, led by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, that aides on both sides of the aisle still must meet to review two remaining transcripts — after which time all the witnesses' attorneys would be given two weeks to conduct their own reviews, followed by a period of review for redaction of witnesses' private information.

"Following this timeline, it may be a few weeks until the remaining transcripts can be released," Grassley wrote to the Democrats, "but I am committed to working as quickly as we can, consistent with a careful and deliberate process so information that we would agree should be redacted does not accidentally get released because we acted in haste."

Sign up here for POLITICO Huddle

A daily play-by-play of congressional news in your inbox.

Email

By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Notably, Grassley used the opportunity given by the Democrats' request for public hearings to tell Feinstein that among the witnesses who have yet to produce requested documents is Fusion GPS co-founder Glenn Simpson. Fusion GPS commissioned a dossier compiling allegations, unverified and occasionally incendiary, about Russian efforts to secure compromising information about President Donald Trump during his campaign.

"It deeply concerns me that there so far does not appear to be any interest from my friends on the other side of the aisle in ensuring the American people have all the facts, not just those that tell one side of the story," Grassley wrote.

The Iowan also told Democrats that he remains open to public hearings as part of the committee's Russian meddling probe following the release of witnesses' transcripts. Grassley suggested that any discussion about public testimony should include Simpson, whose interview transcript Feinstein unilaterally released last month to the frustration of Republicans.

"When the public knows what we know, that will be the proper time for public hearings," Grassley wrote.